EA Mobile wants to make a big splash all over the place

[GetGamer News]

When EA announced their entry into mobile gaming (as in cell phones) people in the industry didn’t know what to make of it. The company displayed a swagger that put a lot of people off. Their attitude was they would introduce formal process to a Wild West business. On the surface, that’s very appealing. One mobile game needs to be tested on a couple dozen handsets to be a viable product. Each handset has its own control scheme, and its own implementation of the OS. Break it down further and each carrier can customize the OS on that handset as they see fit. Break it down even further and the carrier can patch that OS as they see fit over time, without informing you. Then the game has to get on a carrier deck. In some cases you can’t just go to the national office and show them the goods. You have to deal with regional offices.

All of the above assumes you’re not EA.

If they can deliver on their promise of beating the industry into shape with formal production, QA and distribution, then more power to them. My guess is they’ll whip the industry into shape for EA, and leave everyone else to wonder how the hell they’re doing it.

Well, they’re starting off with some big titles. Need for Speed Underground 2, The Sims 2 Mobile, Madden NFL 2006, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2006, FIFA Soccer 2006, Poppit!, Turbo 21 and Tri Peaks Solitaire. There had to be a card game in there, of course. Yeesh.